Whereas climate change, food waste, food recovery and food insecurity are key intersecting challenges facing BC communities, with food waste contributing to both greenhouse gas emissions and food insecurity And whereas a better food recovery program could help reduce food insecurity, food waste, and GHG emissions; And whereas CleanBCs Roadmap to 2030, which sets direction for advancing climate action in BC, does not include food waste reduction and food recovery; Therefore be it resolved that UBCM requests the CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 be amended to include food waste reduction and recovery as, or into, one of the pathways.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy The Province recognizes local governments are leaders in the fight against climate change, and as part of this, have taken significant steps to reduce food and organic waste. The Province is committed to continuing partnerships with local governments to reduce organic waste from going to landfill and is listening to input from local government leaders on next steps. The CleanBC Roadmap to 2030 includes a commitment to develop a Circular Economy Strategy; food waste reduction and recovery policies will be considered as the strategy develops. A fundamental aim of the broader program is to design systems where waste is prevented, with emphasis in sharing, reusing, repairing, and recycling to eliminate waste and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As part of BCs efforts to support a circular economy for organics, the Province has invested in the Love Food Hate Waste campaign 150,000 between 2018 and 2021 and is collaborating with the Pacific Coast Collaboratives Food Waste Working Group to reduce food waste by 50 by 2030. Additionally, diversion of organics from landfills has been supported through the Organics Infrastructure Program which, with partners, is investing 30M into new organics diversion programs, and the CleanBC Organics Infrastructure and Collection Program, which is investing up to 26M to increase organic waste processing and residential organic waste collection. The CleanBC Roadmap 2030 is designed as a living document to be revisited and updated as we move forward to ensure we stay on track to meet our targets. Government reports on progress towards our CleanBC commitments and legislated targets in our annual Climate Change Accountability Report CCAR that is required under the Climate Change Accountability Act. Progress on the Circular Economy Strategy will be included in future reports as it is developed and implemented.